According to Accenture: “cloud is the foundational element for this digital change”. And along with this change comes the opportunity to transform business models, to improve products and services, to boost customer experience and to take advantage of greater agility.

Often hampered by legacy infrastructure that simply cannot compete with faster and more innovative digital alternatives, cloud technology enables traditional banks to automate their operations and workflows. This boosts efficiency, drives innovation, unlocks new ways of working, improves security and reduces costs in the process.

The potential of cloud is so great that experts suggest it won’t be long before cloud-based banking becomes the norm. In fact, they believe that the majority of new core banking projects that are launched by 2020 will be in the cloud. PwC agrees, noting that core banking services like credit scoring and billing for basic accounts will be using cloud to scale.

In an ever-evolving disruptive digital marketplace, banks and financial services firms simply can’t afford to not consider cloud. Accenture put together a list of some of the pressures driving cloud interest among banks. Take a look.

• Disruptive competition: The traditional banking value chain is changing as digital banks enter the market. This is forcing more established financial institutions to evolve and adapt.
• Changing customers: Customers are more connected than ever before. And they want the same seamless experiences no matter where they go. If banks want to retain these digitally savvy consumers they need to use cloud to improve customer experience.
• IT and business alignment: IT and business have to be on the same page. Gone are the days when they worked in separate silos. Everything that your IT teams do needs to be driven by a solid business strategy.
• Poor agility: Extended development cycles and complicated applications no longer make the grade. Cloud enables banks to be more nimble, speed up their development processes and it supports on demand consumption.
• Disparate data: Banks are looking for a single data source. Cloud allows them to bring together information from various different systems and platforms to create one version of the truth.
• Changing regulations: As regulatory environments change, being able to automate processes is essential. With cloud it is possible to conduct business as usual alongside your migration efforts.